A soldier secures the are as firemen fight a blaze Wednesday, June 21, 2023 in Paris. Firefighters fought a blaze on Paris' Left Bank that is sent smoke soaring over the domed Pantheon monument and prompted evacuation of buildings in the neighborhood, police said. Local media cited witnesses describing a large explosion preceding the fire, and saying that part of a building collapsed. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)Firemen use a water canon as they fight a blaze Wednesday, June 21, 2023 in Paris. Firefighters fought a blaze on Paris' Left Bank that is sent smoke soaring over the domed Pantheon monument and prompted evacuation of buildings in the neighborhood, police said. Local media cited witnesses describing a large explosion preceding the fire, and saying that part of a building collapsed. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)Firemen use a water canon as they fight a blaze Wednesday, June 21, 2023 in Paris. Firefighters fought a blaze on Paris' Left Bank that is sent smoke soaring over the domed Pantheon monument and prompted evacuation of buildings in the neighborhood, police said. Local media cited witnesses describing a large explosion preceding the fire, and saying that part of a building collapsed. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)Police officers and rescue workers work at the site of a fire Wednesday, June 21, 2023 in Paris. A strong explosion hit a building in Paris' Left Bank on Wednesday, leaving four people injured and igniting a fire that sent smoke soaring over the domed Val de Grace monument and prompted the evacuation of buildings, police said. The cause of the blast was not immediately known. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A soldier secures the are as firemen fight a blaze Wednesday, June 21, 2023 in Paris. Firefighters fought a blaze on Paris' Left Bank that is sent smoke soaring over the domed Pantheon monument and prompted evacuation of buildings in the neighborhood, police said. Local media cited witnesses describing a large explosion preceding the fire, and saying that part of a building collapsed. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
PARIS – French rescue workers searched Thursday for a person feared missing after a powerful blast brought down a building on Paris' Left Bank, injuring more than 30 people, six of them critically.
Investigators were working to determine the cause of Wednesday's explosion. A possible gas leak was one of the theories under investigation.
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The blast near the historic Val de Grace military hospital in Paris' 5th district crumpled the facade of a building that held a private academy of design and arts.
The Paris prosecutors' office raised the number of people with critical injuries from four to six on Thursday. Some of those suffered severe burns, said Health Minister François Braun.
One person who had been feared missing under the rubble was located in a hospital where they were being treated, the prosecutors' office said.
Efforts were ongoing to locate another person still feared missing, it said.
With more than 2 million people densely packed within the city limits and historic — sometimes ageing — infrastructure, Paris is no stranger to gas explosions. A January 2019 blast in the 9th district killed four people and left dozens injured.
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